Snowboard legend and three-time gold medalist Shaun White announced on Saturday that the Beijing Olympics will be his last snowboarding competition.
“This has all had its amazing glow as I’ve decided this will be my last Olympics,” White said. “I’ve given it my all, there have been some ups and downs on the way to get here. And with that I feel I’ve got stronger and better.”
White added, “I’m just so excited about everything. Opening ceremony was incredible. The venue looks incredible. I’m just enjoying every single moment.”
White, who won halfpipe gold medals at Turin 2006, Vancouver 2010 and Pyeongchang 2018, went on to admit that lingering injury issues have contributed to his decision.
“They [injuries] were taking away from days in practice, and I was watching the tricks getting heavier and heavier,” he explained. “I was riding down from the halfpipe in Austria, and I got lost, and I had to take this chair back up. And on that chairlift ride, the mountain was closing and I was on my own and I was watching the sun go down, and it hit me: this is it. It was a surreal moment, but very joyous as I watched the sun go down and reflected.”
Heading into his fifth Olympics, White faces a hungry, young field of competitors, including Japan’s Ayumu Hirano, 23, who beat the Californian at the Laax Open last month.
